1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to information management. More particularly, embodiments of the invention relate to systems and methods for delegating information classification in a computer system.
2. The Relevant Technology
The world is slowly and continually moving from being paper-based to being electronic-based. This evolution is apparent in almost every aspect of life, from the workplace, to government institutions, to home life. In each area, old paper-based methods of communication and storage are being replaced by electronic information. Businesses have replaced bulky paper files and expensive storage rooms with electronic files and searchable databases. Tax-payers are encouraged to submit returns electronically rather than in paper form, and email is rapidly becoming the principal form of communication.
There are several reasons for this transition, one of which is the convenience and accessibility of electronic systems. Email, for example, often arrives shortly after sending it, and information submitted electronically can be quickly formatted, processed, and stored without the inconvenience of manually reviewing each submission by hand.
As entities become more dependent on electronic data, the ability to manage electronic data becomes crucial for a variety of different reasons. For example, much of the electronic data maintained by an entity or organization often relates to different aspects of the entity and is often subject to various considerations. Without an effective way to manage the electronic data, it is difficult to apply the appropriate considerations to the data.
Further, often there is a large amount of unstructured data, meaning that the value of the data to the entity is not readily known, nor are the services required to manage the data. For example, an entity may have a file storage system that is regularly backed up, despite the presence of files on the system that have little or no value to the entity. Thus, without an effective way to sort, classify, and maintain the files, the entity pays for unneeded services.
Additionally, there may be data that is subject to certain state and federal regulations based on information stored in the content of the data. Without a method of searching data based on content, certain data or files may not receive the services mandated by the regulations, and the entity may be subject to liability.
Generally, there are a number of factors used to determine how data is handled and which services are needed to properly maintain the data. Some of the factors or considerations commonly used include data security, data backup, data retention, data access control, regulatory compliance, corporate compliance, and the like or any combination thereof.
Various information management systems and methods exist, some of which may address these and other factors. Notably, however, the amount of electronic data that can be managed by an information management system is often limited by the physical limits of the hardware implementing the information management system. For instance, an information management server is necessarily limited in the amount of electronic data it can manage by, among other things, its processors and other hardware. Thus, the scalability of an information management system is an important consideration for entities desiring to implement information management in a network.
Two conventional scaling solutions often implemented include scaling up and scaling out. Scaling up, for example, includes implementing the information management system in a server with faster hardware. Often, however, the cost of scaling up can be prohibitively high. Scaling out involves replicating the information management server and distributing the work across the resulting server instances, with each server instance managing a subset of a network, or partitioning/separating out low-level information management functions to other servers. In the case of the former, the use of multiple information management servers can present integration difficulties and in the case of the latter, high-level functions not partitioned to the other servers still require significant computing resources from the information management server.
What are needed, therefore, are improved methods and systems for managing electronic data in a network.